Last night’s film was ‘71 - a historical thriller set in Northern Ireland in the year (wait for it), 1971. (It's currently on Amazon Prime.)
It follows a young army unit, deployed to Belfast for their first tour of active duty, and subsequently sent to assist the RUC in a search of Catholic houses on the Protestant/Catholic border in the city. The RUC’s methods shock the young soldiers, and as an angry crowd of Catholic residents gathers and then turns violent, the soldiers quickly find themselves outnumbered and their commanding officer orders a retreat. In the confusion, two soldiers become separated from their unit, quickly reduced to one. The rest of the film follows this soldier, Gary Hook, as he tries to navigate the city, unable to tell friend from foe, and trying to return to his barracks.
This really is two films in one, as a thriller/chase style movie, it’s supremely effective and tight as a drum, a single man, lost in enemy territory, desperately trying to return to a safe haven. The film works on that level alone, you could watch the film with no historical grounding in The Troubles whatsoever, and be thoroughly consumed by watching the story play out.
However, what gives the film a whole extra level of resonance is the backdrop it plays out against. It’s unsparingly effective in demonstrating the sectarian hatred that divided Ireland and the city of Belfast, encompassing the RUC, PIRA, OIRA, MRF and the British Army, as they all pursue their own agendas with little concern for the collateral damage, with the justification that they’re at war.
The violence isn’t gratuitous or showy, when bullets connect or bombs explode the aftermath is brutal and upsetting (a post-pub bombing scene leaves little to the imagination, but it’s necessary to show the horror and terror of the struggle, and the ultimate futility of it).
By the end of the film we’re left to ponder who the ‘goodies and baddies’ are, the film doesn’t particularly denounce either side, and indeed makes an effort to show the humanity present in all, if there’s a bad guy - it’s the army and the occupation.
As one character says at one point, ‘Posh cunts telling thick cunts to kill poor cunts, that’s the army for you, and it’s all a lie’.
As a final note, one would hope that this film would be nothing more than a tale of how we used to be, but as Brexit threatens to split Ireland once again, and the far right rises across Europe, and Motherfucking Trump rules America with a message of hatred and racism - one wonders what it’d take for us to end up back there. Probably not that much.
885/1000